


From the personal papers of Ezio Auditore

by Kryptontease



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Coat of Arms - Freeform, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Flipbook, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27114785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kryptontease/pseuds/Kryptontease
Summary: It's been months since the wedding, a very low-key affair. A book arrives at the small villa on the outskirts of Siena.
Relationships: Ezio Auditore da Firenze/Desmond Miles
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45
Collections: Fic In A Box





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Asymptotical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/gifts).



> Made for Asymptotical. I hope you had a wonderful Fic in a Box! 
> 
> Many thanks are owed to my beta, who helped me whip this ficlet into shape on a tight deadline. Any remaining errors are mine.

Like most of the trying episodes in Ezio's life, this one began with a letter.

Less than a month had passed since the wedding, a low-key affair at the city gate of Siena. A witness, a priest (which Paola was, after a fashion), and Ezio's husband-to-be had been the only ones in attendance. They handfasted as the sunlight hit a sentry tower along the city wall. A warm glow fell across their faces as they exchanged oaths of fidelity not unlike the ones they had sworn to the Brotherhood. After their vows, his husband had swept him into a long kiss, and then the group had melted into the morning foot traffic of the city. They'd walked shoulder to shoulder through the streets, the tips of their fingers barely brushing each other, as they passed through a stand of grocers and pastry sellers.

Then he felt two fingers strike the inside of his wrist, and a rush of air.

His husband had sprung lightly onto a pile of discarded boxes, and was scrambling up the masonry of the nearby palazzo. Ezio followed behind him. As they raced towards the bell tower of the Duomo, he could feel the small thrill of unrestrained freedom rush through him. He clambered up the black-and-white striped cathedral--seconds behind--less than than that--and surged onto the roof at the same instant that Desmond did. From the highest elevation in Siena, he could feel the dizzying openness of the city and all that lay before them.

His marriage couldn't be kept secret forever.

One night, after his back had twinged its complaint about his renewed level of exertion, he settled at a cramped desk while Desmond slumbered. The accommodation they'd found for the night was the apartment of an unlucky bookkeeper who had packed off to Milano a fortnight ago. He did not need his husband's gift of foresight to know the bookkeeper would not be able to return for some time--until the French and the Swiss finished whatever they planned to do in the North. Ezio had the luxury of time.

He pushed a pile of ledgers to the side, extricated pen and paper and ink from the workbench, and began to write.

_Claudia, my dearest sister, I am overjoyed to inform you that I have been wed these past three weeks…_

* * *

The letter that he received back dripped with indignation, but far less than expected.

Ezio felt his argument was sound. Unpredictability and the anonymity of the countryside were his most valuable assets. He hadn't warned Claudia; he'd given her no indication in any of his letters that his mind had bent towards marriage. Given the church's position on the Auditore family, he felt that distance could only help Claudia and her operation in Roma to stay in the graces of the new pope.

Claudia's reply had told him just how far he could shove that nonsense. Her letter had been short and cutting, but full of warmth. She had signed off, _I breathe easier knowing that you have returned from the Levant with the peace and clarity you did not have when you departed. All of my fondest wishes to you and Desmond, my dearest brother._ No threats of violence or reprisals such as only a sister could visit upon him for his oversight.

The matter, he felt, had been settled.

* * *

The first suspicion stole into Ezio's heart when he and his new husband reached their new villa. It had taken them nearly a month to travel from Siena to the outskirts of Tuscany in the pleasant, unbroken heat of late summer. The road was not treacherous, as it had been from Acre to Masyaf; no--what caused their slow progress was a shared playful streak, no firm commitments, and the especial pleasure Desmond seemed to take in their bonds of matrimony. A shared future unfurled before them--one free of the murder and chaos that had crescendo'd in the streets of Constantinople, as they had pushed back armed Templar resistance until their bodies cried out in indignation. From here, their future would turn only to happy days. Ezio was sure of it.

...Until he clapped eyes on the villa for the first time. 

The villa had nothing of the splendor of Tuscany about it; it consisted of a single dried-up vineyard and a sunbaked, one-floor main house that had been incompetently shingled. The roof would leak in the autumn rain and whistle in the thundering winter winds.

Ezio pulled the broker's crude map from his pack. He had bought the property sight unseen from a broker in Siena, and he reckoned that the little plot of land had not been drawn to scale. He'd expected a villa at least twice this size, with room enough for a study, and a gallery, a sun room, a library, and oh yes, perhaps a studio for painting. His years of sizing up a residence in order to penetrate it had given him a key eye for estimating space from external evidence. They'd be lucky if there were a closet that could fit a bookshelf.

"It's magnificent," Desmond said at last, choked up, and more than a little awed by the squat dwelling.

Ezio's eyes snapped to his husband's face. "You must be joking. It's a dump!"

Desmond ducked his head. "I couldn't have dreamed of owning anything this nice back in my time." 

" _Where_ did you live?"

"Here and there." Desmond replied vaguely. "Never had a place of my own," Desmond admitted.

The villa was modest, and perhaps his husband preferred modest accommodation-- Desmond had lived like an Assassin, often in what he called a "glorified cell"; and Ezio did not like the sound of any of those things. Still, it would do him some good to see the villa through his husband's eyes.

Ezio took Desmond's hand, and brought it up to his lips. "Well, mi amor, if there's only room enough for one bed, you are sleeping on the floor."

* * *

Disappointment aside, Ezio knew that under skilled care, even the most derelict farm could flourish. They took turns clearing the vineyard of weeds and soaking the parched ground with water hauled from the well.

(Desmond made a face at the first water they hauled up, and muttered something about filtration. He would have to ask Desmond about this later.)

Things passed this way for a time, and they were content, more or less.

* * *

A book arrived at the villa just after mid-morning, catching Ezio just as he was finishing laying out a fine netting over the vinestock. (Some of their grapes would make it to harvest, despite the best efforts of the starlings.) The messenger dropped the book into Ezio's hands and refused payment when it was offered, then urged his horse into a gallop, as though he could fly back to Roma along the Via Cassia.

Ezio carried it into the cramped study that they'd set up in what had once been a storeroom for a small grape press. The single bookcase and short desk barely left room to fit two fashionably narrow Sgabello chairs, let alone two armchairs when they could both stretch out after a meal and share the room in companionable silence.

(Often the companionable silence that Ezio wished he could share with Desmond after meals involved one of them sitting on the desk, their legs hitched up against the wall or one of the just-fitting chairs, which led to its own complications.)

Desmond was already perched on the desk, poring over a series of letters from their creditors.

His eyes cut to the side, but he otherwise didn't look up. "What's that?"

"Something very strange, I think," Ezio said slowly. He drummed on the cover of the book. His husband's legs subtly pushed apart, and Ezio couldn't help noticing how Desmond's ease on the desk was now a studied ruse.

"The volume is titled Auditore," Ezio said.

Desmond shrugged affably. He had been calling up local histories from any family library that he could get his hands on--but this binding… it appeared to be brand new. A mild suspicion kindled in Ezio's heart, as he leafed through the pages. 

Ezio stopped on a certain page, and skimmed the text. He was puzzled for a moment, and then a memory snapped into place. Him and Claudia, facing off against each other across the desk in the Rosa in Fiore ten years ago, sharing biting jokes over the fate of the destroyed Auditore villa.

"All of those years ago, when she said I had certain duties as Lord of Monteriggioni...I thought she was joking!"

She had not been. Before him was a collection of papers that Claudia had bound into a keepsake; among them, the titular grant to Monteriggioni, and an enumeration of the duties that position entailed.

Ezio leaned against the cramped, narrow wall and nudged Desmond with the book.

"You should read it, too, mi amor. It concerns us both." Ezio smirked when Desmond's eyebrows inched up his forehead. "And it may mean our time here is shorter-lived than either of us expected."

Desmond's gaze flitted across the pages. His Italian, Ezio had learned, was conversant enough for ledgers and accounts. It had certain deficiencies; for one, a complete unfamiliarity with the chancery hand of Roman scribes.

"It's fantastic. This is the Auditore family armorial," Desmond said as he flipped through the book. The pages opened on two bright, gleaming crests. "But--ah--hmm. Where I'm from, you'd get these chintzy little printouts that you could hang on your wall. I kind of miss that."

"One can't get a coat of arms for love or money in Siena or Firenze unless you're from a ruling family." Ezio drew his finger across the page. "And my dearest sister has nominated us for a job."

There was a heavy pause as Desmond re-read the passage. "Desmond Miles, husband of the Lord of Monteriggioni." Desmond's face lit up. He hardly seemed bothered by the fabrications that Claudia had provided to the registrar in Ferrara to earn them their titles. "Does this mean we're moving?"

"Only if you have grown tired of grapes," Ezio offered casually. He struck Desmond's thigh lightly with the back of two of his fingers. Oh yes, he could see the challenge rise in Desmond's eye as Desmond surged across the desk to kiss him, but Ezio was already sprinting from the closet into the foyer, and springing lightly into the air to catch the exposed rafters to vault himself up the ceiling.

"A kiss to whomever can best the Lord of Monteriggioni," Ezio shouted. The book clattered to the desk, but Ezio did not turn back. He reached the ceiling and pushed through the secret passage he had cut to the roof.

Let them decide in the morning what to do about this new responsibility.

For now, they had other matters at hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read the Auditore Armorial [as a flipbook](https://metropolisjournal.neocities.org/flip/auditore/index.html). Pages & their description can be found in the next chapter!


	2. The Auditore Armorial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Armorial Claudia sent to Ezio and Desmond as a wedding gift. You can read it as a [flipbook](https://metropolisjournal.neocities.org/flip/auditore/index.html). Below are individual pages and description of the contents of the Armorial, with text transcriptions.

__

__

  
Cover. See [full-sized image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/552772434181488660/774083632591142942/CoverForEzioPapers-final.png).

__

  
Dedication, pages 1&2\. See [full-sized image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/552772434181488660/768809864008302622/fullsize--p1-2.png). 

  
Ezio Auditore crest, pages 3&4\. See [full-sized image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/552772434181488660/769408186389626890/fullsize--p5-6.png). 

  
Desmond Miles crest, pages 5&6\. See [full-sized image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/552772434181488660/768809865065136149/fullsize--p3-4.png). 

  
Dual crest, pages 7&8\. See [full-sized image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/552772434181488660/770939825469128734/fullsize-p7-8.png).

[ **COVER** ]

.:[ **PAGE 1** ]:.  
  
This book is dedicated on the occasion of the Auditore-Miles Wedding.  


~  
  
  


.:[ **PAGE 2** ]:.

Ezio Auditore  
_A simple depiction of Ezio's arms on an escutcheon_

Desmond Miles  
_A simple depiction of Desmond's arms on an escutcheon_

~  
  
  


.:[ **PAGE 3** ]:.  
_A detailed lineart of Ezio's arms in dark ink on paper_

~  
  
  


.:[ **PAGE 4** ]:.  
A. House Auditore Ezio Auditore da Firenze

 **Arms of Ezio Auditore**  
Former resident of Villa Auditore, Monteriggioni, Republic of Sienna; assumed Lord of Monteriggioni, should the township be reconstituted after its destruction in 1499. Banking family from Florence, attested by Lorenzo de’ Medici. Alive and rumored to be in residence in Rome since 1500. 

**Blazon**  
Party per cross argent dexter a chequy of six gules and argent sinister a bendy of four gules and or, a double-headed eagle displayed and party per fess or and sable. 

**History**  
The coat of arms of the House of Auditore, attested in the Armorial for five generations, is modified from its original form to give the applicant arms that impale his mother’s and father’s arms. While we were unsure that Ezio Auditore survived the Borgia siege of Monteriggioni, his health and liveliness have been attested to by several members of the Brotherhood and thus we submit this updated design for the new Lord of the House of Auditore. The double-headed eagle was a playful addition. An eagle appears on both the father and mother’s armorial, but from different family branches; impaling them gives the appearance of the Holy Roman Empire’s double-headed charge, which has for the most part been reserved for only the royal lineages. Normally a new grant of arms would be saved until marriage, but the applicant feels it unlikely that he will wed until the Borgia threat hangs over us no more. 

**Applicant**  
Claudia Auditore on behalf of the Granted

 **Proved and Registered**  
D.O.D Nates  
(La) Volpe  
Paola dei Dio  
Carlo di Barlon  
Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

16 October MDV (16 October 1505)

Brotherhood Committee  
On Heraldic Achievement

Added to the Assassin Armorial at Firenze

~  
  
  


.:[ **PAGE 5** ]  
_A detailed lineart of Desmond's arms in dark ink on paper_

~  
  
  


.:[ **PAGE 6** ]  
No. 9820 Desmond Miles

 **Arms of Desmond Miles**  
Invested legal heir to Villa Auditore, Monteriggioni, Republic of Sienna; husband of Ezio Auditore, Lord of Monteriggioni. Originating from Florence, attested by local herald. Alive and in residence at the Villa since 1513. 

**Blazon**  
Argent a chevron paly of six azure and or between two lozenges azure each charged with a fleur-de-lis argent and a dagger or couped with a ribbon gules wrapped around its handle.

 **Notes**  
This personal coat of arms passes elements from the Miles family crest (the chevron paly). Though we cannot find evidence for the Miles crest in the armorials from Florence, Il Mentore assures us that Desmond Miles derives from a venerable family whose documentary evidence has been destroyed by the inevetiable disarray of time. The dagger couping the chervon is unprecended in Tuscan heraldry. We are unsure if the Holy Roman Empire uses such devices, but this blazon should suffice as precdent should any other herald chose to make such artistic flourishes of their own.

 **Applicant**  
Claudia Auditore and Ezio Auditore on behalf of the Granted

 **Proved and Registered**  
Paola dei Dio  
Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli  
Carlo di Barlon  
Antonio de Magianis  
D.O.D Nates

28 February MDXV (28 February 1515)

Brotherhood Committee  
On Heraldic Achievement

Added to the Assassin Armorial at Ferrara

~  
  
  


.:[ **PAGE 7 &8**]:.

_A large illustration of a joint Ezio/Desmond crest, made on the occasion of their marriage._

Captioned: Nothing Is True, All Is Permitted.

~  
  
  



End file.
